Meaning: 1. A line of pales (pointed logs) serving as a fence or defensive wall. 2. [Palisades] A stretch of high cliffs along a river bank or overlooking a lake.

Notes: Today's is another very beautiful word, especially when referring to the cliffs along a river. Keep in mind, however, that we use only the plural to express this sense: the Palisades are the highlight of the Hudson River. You may 'verb' this noun; that is, you can palisade your home if you feel insecure, by surrounding it with closely pack pales.

In Play: A palisade is a labor-intensive means of defense: "Dewey Rose built a sturdy palisade around his garden to keep out the rabbits but it was a late frost that did it in." Palisades are there just to be enjoyed: "The palisades along Split Rock Creek in South Dakota are so majestic Jessie James vacationed there in a cave for several days after his robbery of the Northfield, Minnesota bank." (Or so legend would have it.)

Word History: This Good Word is French palissade touched up only very slightly. It comes from palissa "stake" + -ade, a suffix often referring to groups (brigade, parade). Palissa is a remnant of Late Latin *palicea from Latin palus "stake". The ultimate PIE root was *pa(n)g- "fasten" with our old friend, Fickle N, sometimes there, sometimes not. It does not appear in palus or in pact, that comes from Latin pacisci "to agree" nor pax "peace", the result of a pact. Patio also comes from this verb via Old Provençal pati "pasture" and Old Spanish, where patio referred to an inner courtyard. Fickle N did invade the Germanic languages where we find fangen "capture, seize" in German and English fang, by which animals seize things. (We are happy that Lyn Laboriel was seized by the desire to suggest that we investigate today's very lovely word.)

Last edited by Dr. Goodword on Sun May 15, 2005 11:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I always see an uneven top to a palisade, the coyote fences out west are made of tree slabs of uneven heights, they must be at least 11 feet to keep the coyote(pronounced kai-OO' tee by the way.) The coyote palisades aren't as common as they used to be.

Katy
RAMONES LYRICS

"Palisades Park"

Last night I took a walk in the dark
To a place called Palisades Park
To have some fun, to see what I could see
That's where the girls are

I took a ride on the shoopty shoop
The girl I sat with almost, almost puked
And when it stopped, she was holding hands with me

My arms were flying up, like a rocket ship
Down, like a roller coaster
Fast, like a loopty loop
Then around, like a merry-go-round
We even at a hot dog stand
Slam danced to a rockin' band
And when she winked, I gave that girl a hug
In the tunnel of love

You'll never know how good it just can feel
'Til it stops at the top of the ferris wheel
I fell in love, down at Palisades Park

Last night I took a walk in the dark
To a place called Palisades Park
To have some fun, to see what I could see
That's where the girls are

I took a ride on the shoopty shoop
The girl I sat with almost, almost puked
And when it stopped, she was holding hands with me

My arms were flying up, like a rocket ship
Down, like a roller coaster
Fast, like a loopty loop
Then around, like a merry-go-round

We even at a hot dog stand
We danced around to a rockin' band
And when she winked, I gave that girl a hug
In the tunnel of love

You'll never know how good it just can feel
'Til it stops at the top of the ferris wheel
I fell in love, down at Palisades Park

I know that's the right way, and that's the way I've said it all my life, but isn't it a bit illogical, just like colonel? I think koh-yoh-tee would make much more sense. I have a feeling it comes from Spanish. Is it the same path that was taken toward pronouncing vamos and vamoose, i.e., maiming its pronunciation?

I know that's the right way, and that's the way I've said it all my life, but isn't it a bit illogical, just like colonel? I think koh-yoh-tee would make much more sense. I have a feeling it comes from Spanish. Is it the same path that was taken toward pronouncing vamos and vamoose, i.e., maiming its pronunciation?

Brazilian dude

BD, as in this sentance,:"We hung that varmint and then vamoosed to ...."contains words that began as cowboy slang, (as the kai-OO' tee pronunciation) became "correct English". So, I'd have to agree with you, for sure. We have so much to thank that gang of iinvincibly
ignorant itinerants.

Good find, Henri! I hadn't thought of "beyond the pale" having to do with "stakes, and "fortification" although I took the meaning to be one of "beyond the boundaries," or "out of bounds." so I guess that is cleared up!

I have a sneaking suspicion about "coyote." I think that it comes from the "mother of all languages:"

Good find, Henri! I hadn't thought of "beyond the pale" having to do with "stakes, and "fortification" although I took the meaning to be one of "beyond the boundaries," or "out of bounds."

When blazoning arms, vertical divisions are generally referred to as parti per pale. Naming the colors becomes (for example) per pale, or [gold] and gules [red]. A single 'stripe' may be referred to as a pale, multiples are pallets, alternating vertical bands are described as paly of [x]. English heraldic usage combines French and English terms with panache.